Tag Archives: Kemr aka Kems

For about a week during the month of September 2018, nearly 100 writers and artists converged onto Cabot street in the South West of Montreal for the creation of a huge mural celebrating the graffiti writer and artist Scaner who had passed away a year earlier following a 8-year battle with cancer.

The 675 m2 (7250 sq. foot) mural is the creation of Scaner’s KG crewmates Zek (who wrote the letter outlines) and Stare, and features characters by Harry Bones and Axe Lalime. It was done on one of the two walls which had served as the canvas for the Scan You Rock mega-production 16 months earlier, a huge tribute to Scaner put together by his friends when they found out that he only had a short time left to live. Scaner’s own piece in the latter production was salvaged and has been integrated into the new mural which was designed around it. Barcelona artist and 4S crewmate Harry Bones created a Scaner-inspired character looming over the piece, and nearly a hundred of Scaner’s fellow writers and artists from Montreal and around the world filled the letters of his name with their own name pieces. Scan’s DA crewmate Axe Lalime created the end character, a clock reminding us that Time Is Gold.

The creation of the mural was organised by Scaner’s wife Karine ‘Kay’ Rogers and his friend Philémon (through the non-profit organization Mr CanDo) and made possible through the generous contribution of donors who thus helped pay for the rental of aerial work platforms, scaffoldings and safety equipment as well as the purchase of paint and the transportation of artists.

A tribute of this scale was unheard of in the world of graffiti and urban art before this. It is a testament to the love and respect that Scaner commanded from his peers, in Montreal and elsewhere in the world. The new mural is seen everyday by thousands of commuters on the Turcot Interchange, and photos and videos of it and its making have made it around the world through social media, cementing Scan’s place in local and international art and graffiti history.

The gallery below features photos of the complete wall as well as close-ups on various sections, including credits for all the artists involved. A few names are missing, any input is welcome.

The complete wall. Scroll down for close-ups on the wall’s different sections. Click to view image in bigger size.

The Scan You Rock tribute wall to Scaner; detail showing Harry Bones and Scaner’s original piece

Close-up on Harry Bones‘ contribution around Scaner‘s own piece salvaged from the Scan You Rock production from April 2017 (a few months before he passed away). Harry Bones was Scan’s crewmate in the 4S crew.

This image gallery brings together 200 of the best pieces of Montreal graffiti from 2017. I painstakingly trimmed down a first list of about 1500 pieces to the 200 seen below. I meant to bring it down to 100 but was unable, too much great work would have been left out. The selection was done partly from my own personal favourites but mostly from those of my followers on Instagram. Of course this list was put together from what I was actually able to photograph, so keep in mind that it may lack some great work that just slipped between the cracks.

It was already difficult selecting 200 pieces, it was impossible to sort them in order of preference, so they are shown here in alphabetical order. To ensure that the list wasn’t filled with only work from a few popular writers, I have set a maximum of 4 pieces per artist. Collaborations by two or more artists under one common theme count as one entry (which means that I managed to cheat my way into actually including a bit more than 200 pieces!). Multi-artist creations, including quite a few tributes to Scaner, are found at the end of the list.

203 crew wall for the 2017 edition of Under Pressure. The 203 Invader with the munchies by Opire and the one with the giggles by Arnold and Borrris. The top letters – actually numbers – are by Naimo, the ground ones by Ekes and all the wraparound is by Lyfer and Ekes plus probably a few more 203s…

Awe‘s part in the production he supervised in St-Henri, one of the great prods of this year.

Awe in the Plateau

Awe‘s part in a Plateau production. Scroll down for more by Awe under ‘Zek’.

Axe (top letters and figurative) and Jaber (ground letters) for the Time Is Gold production

Smak from the Time Is Gold production

Zek’s part in the Time Is Gold production

Axe for the Time Is Gold production

Above 4 photos: one of the walls of the Time Is Gold production, Scaner‘s last before he passed away. It is impossible to photograph it in one shot, so the first photo above shows Axe Lalime (top letters and figurative) and Jaber (bottom letters), the second one is Smak‘s part, the third one is by Zek‘s and the last one is King the squirrel by Axe Lalime. Scroll down this list for more by Jaber, Smak and Zek in solo and collaborations.

Crazy Apes wall at Festival de Canes featuring Fezat and Narc on central character, in the middle of letters by Lith, Crane, Korb and Akuma

Crazy Apes‘ wall for the Festival de Canes in Longueuil, featuring Fezat and Narc on central character, with letters by Lith (top left), Crane (ground left), Korb (top right) and Akuma (ground right). Scroll up above for more by Crane and Korb. Scroll down for solo work by Korb and Narc under their respective names.

Stare from a long tribute wall to Scaner also involving Zek and Benny Wilding

Finished right on time for this yearly retrospective, this is Stare‘s part in a long tribute wall to his KG brother Scaner.

Stare on letters and Axe along the ground, in a dark recessed parking space in the Plateau

Stare‘s part in the RDV production curated by Axe Lalime. Stare also finished a piece by his KG brother Scaner and contributed to a multi-artist tribute to him, scroll down to the end of this list for that.

Scaner’s name by Axe. Scaner did the outlines of the first three letters before he passed away in September 2017. Axe did the N, the fill and background. Bird of prey above is by Tchug.

Scaner did the outlines of the first three letters of his name before he passed away in September 2017. Axe Lalime and Sober did the N, the fill and background. Bird of prey above is by Tchug. Scroll up for more by Axe above under ‘Axe’ and ‘Zek’. Tchug also made this list in a collaboration with Scribe (scroll up to the latter name). Sober also participated in the tribute to Scaner listed just above this piece. Axe has also made it into the Top 100 murals and other painted street art of 2017.

This post is a photo gallery of tributes to Scaner that have appeared in Montreal and Miami since the writer passed away on 9 September 2017. Most of the creations are by writers doing Scan’s name, but I also found a few street art/figurative pieces celebrating Montreal’s graffiti king.

Artists did not wait for Scaner to be gone before celebrating him. A section at the end of this post features pieces honouring him after the news came out that he was terminally ill.

Axe Lalime, or simply Axe, is a very prolific and versatile Montreal artist active since 1995. He stems from the world of graffiti but excels in various forms of figurative art, be it mural or on canvas. He is very active with the K6A crew, but also pays allegiance to crews KG and CFC. He has in the past been a frequent collaborator on A’Shop productions.

The photo gallery below is therefore mainly split into sections featuring his graffiti pieces, his figurative work as well as the great collective projects by A’Shop and K6A to which he contributed. To see more than what I had the chance to photograph, check out his Facebook and Instagram pages and this great video showing Axe at work on various pieces featured below.

Scaner’s name by Axe. Scaner did the outlines of the first three letters before he passed away in September 2017. Axe did the N, the fill and background. Bird of prey above is by Tchug.

Scaner‘s name by Axe and Sober. Scaner did the outlines of the first three letters before he passed away in September 2017. Axe and Sober did the N, the fill and background. Bird of prey above is by Tchug. See below for what’s on the left of this.

Axe in Petite-Patrie

This is on the left of the above photo. Riding character by Axe, and perhaps also the snake.

Axe (top letters and figurative) and Jaber (ground letters) for the Time Is Gold production

Axe (top letters and figurative) and Jaber (ground letters) for the Time Is Gold production.

Axe for the Time Is Gold production

One more bit by Axe for the Time Is Gold production, this is King the squirrel.